I think Erich's review of Season 5 raises a very good question: what now with the DVD releases?

I personally would LOVE to see Season 6 actually issued on DVD. However, I seriously doubt it's going to happen. I think (but am not sure) that these DVDs are Broadway Video (i.e. Lorne) driven. If memory serves, there was a minor dispute back in the day over the rights to SNL -- NBC asserted that it had the exclusive IP rights to the broadcast shows, but Lorne wanted producer control, and yadda yadda yadda, and in the end it was all settled as part of Lorne's hug-it-out-bitches reconciliation with NBC after Ebersol decided he didn't want to produce anymore. I know Lorne (Broadway Video) wound up with the rights to the vast majority of the SNL shows. But what I'm not sure is whether Lorne got ALL of them. Everything I've read indicates that he hates the Doumanian shows with a passion; he felt that Jean stabbed him in the back by agreeing to produce the show after his walk-out, and he thinks the comedy is sub-par and is/was an insult to the show's reputation. That's why you never, ever, ever, ever see those shows in the syndication packages -- he's buried them like Lucas has buried the Star Wars Holiday Special.

Also, season 6 is only a half-season, due to the writer's strike that year, which may count against it.

So if Lorne is calling the shots, I really doubt we'll see season 6.

Assuming we never see that -- season 7 is a heck of a season, and I'd be happy to see it released.

The fact that we had to wait a full year between seasons four a five, when the first few SNL season sets were hitting every six months, suggests they see this set as an end point. Either that or they didn't want to ride Charlie Rocket into the holiday season. I hope they put out season six, if only for historical purposes, then follow quickly with season seven and beyond. At one point, Lorne said he never watched any of the Jean Doumanian or Dick Ebersol episodes, so I could see him wanting to bury those. On the other hand, fans want the Eddie Murphy years. I know I want the "ringer" season, with Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Martin Short, etc. I need to own the Synchronized Swimming sketch.

I don't read as much into the timing as you do, I think. I assume that music clearances are a big factor in this -- and many of the musical guests in seasons 1-3 were and still are personal friends of Lorne, which may have sped the process along for those sets.

While Lorne may not watch the Ebersol episodes, he certainly hasn't shied away from making money off of them. Also, apparently he's always had a good and positive relationship with Ebersol, so there isn't the bad blood there like there is with Doumanian.

I'm with you on Season 10 (the "dream team" season). The other season I'd like to see -- the 11th season, a.k.a. the first of the Lorne Pt. 2 seasons. The one with Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, Joan Cusack, Terry Sweeney, et al. Another train wreck.

Oh man! For some reason I have VERY vivid memories of that strange and unfunny eleventh season of SNL. I'm not sure how commercially viable the seasons will become after Season 5... that is an excellent question. I would love some of the mid to late '90s if only for the musical guests. The chance to see NIRVANA's performance again would be great.

Alex: It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen. (Clockwork Orange)

While I'd like to see Season 6 released,especially if we get some extra features about what went wrong during the ultimate SNL train-wreck season, that and the chronological release of seasons 7-11 means we'll have to wait another few years for seasons 12-16.

Personally, I'm more interested in seasons 12-16 since these are arguably SNL's best seasons next to seasons 2-4.

I think it's an all-lose scenario for SNL. How many people in the end would really buy 20 seasons of a sketch comedy show? How viable would it be for SNL to really release everything eventually? Also the 80's were a bit weak from what I've seen, with a huge boost in the 90's with Farley/Hartman/Myers/Garvey, etc. Would it even get to the 90's, which would be more popular IMO.